Simple Summer's Day
by EstellaB
Summary: Set during Jo's Boys, whilst Tom in unintentionally courting Dora. Focusses on friendship between Demi and Alice Heath, with hints of romance between them and between Tom and Dora. Read and Review please!


**My first Little Women fanfic! Actually, that's not true... I have dozens scribbled in my notebook, but as they all arise from a determination for Beth not to die and to marry Laurie (they're musicians! Perfect together!) I feel that this is the first one that I can share. Be nice in reviews! Please? Disclaimer: Little Women, Good Wives, Little Men and Jo's Boys are public domain now, but I still don't own them.**

Demi smiled. He watched Tom and Dora as they walked along the riverbank together, Tom unconsciously clutching Dora's hand. The young, silent observer knew perfectly well that Tom and little Dora were in love, and he wondered what dire catastrophe it would take to make his friend realise it. Dora, being clever, had already worked it out, but she was content to wait, content to watch Tom throw off his false affection for Nan and wait for the true and eternal one for herself to fight its way to the surface. Women were amazing things, Demi reflected. It often seemed to him that they knew more about menfolk than the men themselves did, and yet kept it quietly hidden away in those fair heads of theirs. He wouldn't be anywhere himself if it wasn't for his mother and dear twin, not to mention his other sister, baby Josie, though a baby no more was she. He had watched the "mooning and spooning" the past few days at the river with great amusement, thanking his stars that he hadn't been "caught" himself by any bright-eyed maiden. Tom was not the only one to have caught the epidemic, though he was perhaps the most surprising case. He had watched his own dear sister the past few weeks-well, years, really-and knew that she and Nat were trying very hard to wait patiently and hope that one day Mother would give the reluctant permission. He was thoroughly in approval of the match himself, and hoped that one day he could sway his mother to give his sister what she most desired-dear Nathaniel Blake. He was startled out of his reverie by a small sound a fair way away. He looked up and around, and saw Alice Heath standing about four hundred yards away, half-hidden by a tree. Curious, he strolled over to her, only to find that she was weeping quietly into the tree. She was still unaware of his presence, and he put an uncertain hand on her shoulder.

"Alice-ahem, Miss Heath?" he asked. "Whatever is the matter?"

"Oh John," she sniffed, and stopped. What on earth could have made this steadiest, most studious of maidens upset? Normally she was ready and willing with a quip or a remark filled with dry wit, said so soberly that few realised she was in jest until several ours afterward. It was very out of character, these tears.

"Would it help to talk about it?" he asked softly. He perched on the grass and patted the spot next to him. "If I can possibly help, I will."

"Oh John," she began again. "I'm fine-thank you for caring." She obediently sat down next to him, and he found himself idly admiring her gracefulness, even in this unfortunate situation. Seeing that he was not convinced, she repeated her sentiment a little more firmly. "John, really, I'm fine."

"Knowing you to be a reputable young lady, with honesty as one of her core values," Demi smiled, "I would believe you wholeheartedly, but for your red eyes and one betraying tear." He reached out with a handkerchief and gently brushed the traitorous tear away. "Would it help to talk about it?" he repeated.

"No-I would rather just talk about the day, and the holiday, and those sweet little lovers down there, so blissfully unaware that they are even lovering..." She nodded to Tom and Dora, who were laughing over some private joke about half a mile away.

"Well then, we will chatter away with gaiety fit for even an old Plum," Demi replied with a laugh, still hoping that she would confide in him, but sensible enough not to press it. "I've heard that you are taking honours in all your classes-congratulations."

"And I've heard that you got your first front page the other day," Alice replied instantly. "Congratulations."

Demi laughed. "That's thanks to Daisy, not me," he confessed. "She found me the 'scoop', and instead of 'phoning the paper like a good law-abiding citizen, she chose to instead pass the story to her brother."

Alice also laughed. "That sounds like the Daisy I know and love," she replied. Demi was pleased to see her laugh. He was pulling up blades of grass and throwing them absently at her, in an attitude of playfulness. He was even more pleased when she caught a blade and threw it back again. Her laugh was enchanting, really it was.

"I didn't know you knew Daisy, well, I didn't know that you knew her well." He blinked at the incoherent sentence he had just produced, but apparently Alice understood anyway.

"She was very nice to me when I first came here," she explained. "I don't know if you remember, but I am a little country girl at heart. It was very scary for me to be here all alone. I know that sounds rather feeble-"

"No, it doesn't," Demi interjected. "I understand perfectly. I would miss all my family and friends, were I halfway across the country. I see. And so Daisy took you under her wing, as it were, and a better deed she never did, for you are still here bringing pleasure to all who know you."

Alice blushed, and Demi, processing the sentence which had so warmly passed his lips, blushed also to find himself saying such things. "Thankyou," she replied sincerely. "I don't mind telling you, now, that that was why I was weeping my little weep earlier-I miss Mama and Father, and they don't have long left for this earth, you know, and I'm studying for their sake really, they want me to, and I enjoy it-but I'm so homesick!" The tears made a very unwelcome reappearance then, and Demi gently wiped them away as before.

"Are you close to your family? Do you have brothers and sisters?" he asked. He didn't know whether asking her to talk about them would make it worse or better, but if he were miles away from home, he knew that all he would want to do would be to tell someone about dear Mother and Josie, and dearest Daisy, and dear Father who had died when he was so young. Perhaps Alice operated along the same lines.

"I'm very close to all of them, especially to Father..." she began, he face lighting up beautifully at this chance to speak about those dearest to her. They talked for over an hour, Alice giving a vivid and humorous description of those "at home", and Demi listening with fascination, occasionally asking a pertinent question when she appeared to be running out of steam. Suddenly Alice looked at her watch, and gasped. "I'm horribly late for dinner, excuse me, John," and starting rapidly to her feet (blissfully unaware of the grass-stain on her dress), she darted off out of sight before he had a chance to offer her his arm. He watched her disappear with a fond smile on his face, then, as soon as she was out of sight, he sighed.

"Drat you, Alice Heath," he muttered, "you've just made my life a lot more complicated."


End file.
